Auld Bulgin' Boysterous Bicep

10% abv

Auld Bulgin' Boysterous Bicep Imperial Stout is Australia's first Smoked Belgio Imperial Mussel and Oyster Stout, originally conceived for the New Zealand 'Beervana' festival Media-brew beer challenge. Read the story here. The beer is a collaboration between the team at Murray's and the Crafty Pint beer blog, brewed to reflect the origins of the parties involved and utilises Port Stephens Oysters for Murray's Brewery (based at Port Stephens); blue lipped mussels from Victoria for Crafty Pint ; and green-lipped mussels, native to New Zealand per batch.

In case the beer wasn't complex or out-there enough, the team added peated distilling malt to the grain bill and fermented it with a Belgian yeast originally sourced from a Trappist monastery!

"It was a crazy beer to brew with a great set of out-there ingredients," said Murray's Head Brewer, Shawn Sherlock. "As strange as it may sound the result was a really well balanced and rounded Imperial Stout with a twist, and a beer we were all very proud of. It was a lot of fun to brew Ð and ultimately too good a beer not to brew on a bigger scale."

The original pilot batch of the beer won its class at New Zealand's Beervana Festival with a perfect 45/45 score.

"The judges obviously knew a great Smoked Belgio Imperial Mussel and Oyster Stout when they tasted one!" Shawn said.

Strong chocolate character underpins the beer with peaty smoked notes from the distilling malt present, especially when the beer is young. The high abv and Belgian yeast character combine to add even further complexity to the beer, before a minerally, briney finish from the mussels and oysters takes the beer in yet another direction.